captioning snsored by macneilehrer productions >> lehrer:ood evening. i'm m lehrer. the oba administration coiders taxing big banks to recoup se of the federal resc money. we'll also he the latest on thearthquake in haiti. >> brown: and i'm jerey brown. on theewshour tonight, judy woodruff gets two vis on what shoulde done to hold financial institutions accountab. >> lehrer: the the state of state budgets. we hear from six pbs correspondents arod the country. >> the governor's recommendations include a ur-

year plan to elinate all state funding for seven agencies and commiions including e department i work foridaho public telesion. >> brownthree auto-related sties: a report from detroit, where manufacturs hope their new models wl lure back custers after a very rough year >> this is a second chce, and i'm peonally grateful for this. i know all the employees at are grateful forhe opportuny. we wilnot disappoint. >> lehrer: gwen ifill los at automakers expanding intnew markets, incding china, now e world's largest. >> bwn: and a conversation with a oneime auto worker who became a pulitzer prize-wiing et. >> lehrer: ps, a look at sports andrugs, after home run king mark mcgwire admittedsing steroids. that's all ahead on tonighs pbs newshour. mar funding for the pbs newshours provided by:

>> and by the bi and melinda gates fodation. dedicated the idea that all people deservehe chance to live a healthy, producve life. and with the ongoi support of thesinstitutions and foundations. and... this program was made possle by the corration for public broadcasting. and by contributions tyour pbs station fromiewers like you. thank you. >> a majoruake shook the caribbean nation of hai. it hit 14 miles from the capital city port-au-pnce. the u.s. geo logical sury reported a magnitude of 7. the largest ever rorded in that region. reports said t presidential palace and a hospital collapsed alonwith other

buildis. the presidt and his wife escaped injury. but dozens of otr people wereilled or buried under rubble >>rown: with me by phone is dale grant of the u.s.eo logical suey in golden, colodo. mr. gran7.0 magnitude. what can you tell us at th point abouthe scale of the devastation? >> good evening, jf. magnitude 7.0 is very mar quake. and this one washallow and, of cours as you noted near a street. you've heard the president throhout the past year talk about e continued divergence from in all ways reali of what's goi on on main street d what's going on in some of these firmin wall street.

theye folks that just ntinue not to get it. >> reporter: for the first ni months of 2009 five of the largesbanks receiving federal aid seaside $90 billion for mpensation, inuding salaries, benefits and boses. onof those was bank of america, an underwrir of the newshour. today the serities and change commission accused nk of america of failing to discse huge losses at merrill nch before buying it. the bank is alrey charged wi hiding bonuses paid at merrl. still, the news of a psible nk tax was met with anger on wall street. where some sawt as a way to get at bonuses. jamie amond, chairman of jp morgan chase told a waington conferen on monday, quote, i'm getting tireof the consta vilification. this is not a sino. still, the issue won't go away.

the federal deposit surance corporation said today that y impose higher premiums on bas to discourage risky lending aninvestments. the question of ether to tax banks may not be limited simply the questi of whether to tax bankmay not be limited simply to costs associated wi the so- called tarp prram. altold, the federal reserve and the vernment committed several trillion dollars to e financial syst at the height ofhe crisis. so what, ianything, should be done aut the banks? weet two views. bert ely is a baing industry constant who runs his own firm northern virginia. and felix salmon ithe finance blogger fothomson reuters. previous he worked for roubini global economics. gentmen, thank you both for being with us. bert ely, to you first. what is your understanng of what form any tax oree would take? >> well, thiis all very big at this pot in time, but it could be eitr a tax on financial ansactions. it could be a tax on high level execive pay.

it may be a profiturtax or some combination treof. this point in time we simply d't know the spifics of these proposals. >> woodrf: in terms of whom it would be levied on. i would presume it will be levied on lae financial institutions, bas, both commercial ban as well as investment banks. a big question is whe would the linee drawn between large ansmall and that would be one of the controversial aspectof this proposal. who gets paid... who h to pay and who doesn't. >> woodrf: felix salmon, what's your understanding what they're talkingbout? >> well, like rt, it's still ve unclear. i haven't lked to anyone who knows what exactlys being planned. bert, i do think that thiss esseially a bank... a tax on the biest banks. it's a tax on beintoo big to pay. one of the key problemwhich led tohe financial crisis. it's sometng which we want ss of. if you areoo big, you're

going to have to pay now. >> woodruff: the ppose would be wha if mt of these banks or all of the ban have repaid the tarp money, wh would the purposbe? >>ell, as you said, they got much more benefit from the government tn just the tarp ney. the federal reserve injected trillis of dollars into the economy. e federal government went to extraordinary leths to rescue the economy frothe crisis which w largely caused bthe actions of these banks. all of that money, the extra money which to govement spends, the reduced tax revee which the governme, thanks to the enormous uneloyment across the country, t huge fiscal deficit which haresulted fr the biggest recession sincthe great depression, this is an enormousum of money. the only effect onhe economy which is really making windfall profits rightow is the banking industry. so it kes sense to tax em higher to help cover tt gap. >> woodruff: as somedy who has followed t banking

industry for a long ti, bert ely, is this a good idea? >> a terrible idea. first of a, the banking industry while it's had some good profits is still periencing very substantial credit losses on credit rd loans,ortgage loans, commercial real esta loans. the profitability of the industry is not that robust. but also this x, whatever form it takes, could have significant uninnd pd coequences not just on the institutions but on the economy as ahole. one the things is banks willake steps to minimize the ta possibly even including moving certain activiti and jobs out of the united states in order t avoid the tax. >> woouff: let me pick up on one of those points and me back to felix salmon. yosay a lot of these banks are mang money but he's saying there really not as strong internally as it appes that they are. they're rely not in any sort of shape to taken these additial fees or taxes.

if you asked the banks that's cometely untrue. if you ask t treasury, mpletely untrue because they have repaid all of them prty ch have repaid the tarp funds that they took from e government. the on reason that the government let therepay that money is bause they put their... ty made sure that these bas are well capitalized, highly solven there weret any problems the banks. if only in theake of those , if onlin the wake of the nks are showing that they're rich enough and wealthy enou to be able to pay all this money that the governmt is saying now you can afford pay us back a t more. >> woodruff: what about at? the reon that the banks have been able repay the money is bause they've raised a lot of additionacapital from stockholders and much of tt capital build-up is rough capital ther than earnings. the banking industry still h a lot of losses to deal wi. also if the governmentets l its money back from the bas plus interest

and other profits, then the qution is why should the bankse taxed additional amots in addition to what they've alady paid back. >> woodruff: do you nt to respond to that,elix? it's quite simple really. >> woodrf: go ahead. >> ty should be paying back adtionally because they caused addional damage to the economy as whole. the cost tthe government of banking indury failure during the credit boom is mu greater th just the $700 billn of tarp. it was trillionsf dollars in tota the banks, nmatter how big this tax is, are only going pay back a tinfraction of that. >> the rean we've had this crisis ibecause of numerous public poly failures that sets this up. i think it's a little bito lay all the blame for the recession the banking indust, plus laying all this additional tax on it may be harmful to the ban and harmful to the recovery. woodruff: felix salmon, a lot of people i' talked to day believe the ministration is talking

abt this right now because there is so much public ger out therabout the banks, the boses, how much of that anger-- you're somebody o follows e conversation around the count. how much othat anger do you think would be assuaged, would be address if something like this were to be enacted? >> i think thenger is deep. i think that here in new yor on wall street a lot of bankers reallyon't apeciate how deep that anger runs. across ameri. i think th if you implemented this kd of tax if it was lae, people would think that was right. i think at americans would feel that made sense. i don't think it would make the anger away. >>oodruff:. i think what we have to keep in mind is polics is driving this as ch as anhing else for exactly the point thatelix made. thers a lot of anger out there. the poing numbers for the president are down. mocrats are concned about losing seats in congress.

i have to think th politics are iving much of this rather than sod economics. >> woodruff: felixalmon, the point that bert ely made moment ago about unintended consequences that if some nd ofax or fee slapped on these banks they're inevitab i believe he said gointo pass this on ttheir customer to people they do businessith. >> well, it pends how the bank is structured reall if the taxs structured as a windll tax on the massive profits ey made in 2009, if it's a taxn how big they were at the d of 2009, if it doesn't recu then it's the economics of the business is the same going forwards they would be if there ha't been a tax. there's really no ason for them to pass tt tax on to their customers. the tax is going to continue to be enforced year and ye out in perpetuity, then yes they'll probablpass it on. >> woodruff:inal comment here >> final comme. it will be an ongoing tax. it w't be a one-off tax.

bas will pass it through to their customers and to t economy as a who. >> woouff: we're talking abousomething that hasn't been enacted yet. it's oy at the conversation level but the administration is saying theye seriously taking a lot athis. bert ely, felix salmon, than you both. >>hank you. >> thank you. >> brown: now for the other news of the day. brown: now, for the other news of the day, hers hari sreenivasan in our newsroo >> sreenivan: it hit 14 milefrom the capital city of port-au-prince. e u.s. geo logical survey said it d a magnitude of 0. reportthat a hospital collapsed and thateople were screamg for help. the ake also triggered a tsunami watcacross parts of the ribbean. moments ago i spoke wi dale granof the usgs in golden, colora. >> approxitely an hour ago 4: local time which is the me as eastern standard time, we had a mnitude 7.0 quake inhe haiti area.

approximately miles west of po-au-prince haiti. now at is a very large population cenr of at least 917,000 pele. is is one of the... well, it is the largest qua that we have seein this area. it has theotential of prty catastroph damage. we've already had repos from cnn that a hospital in port-aprince has collapsed entirely. this is anrea that doesn't receive quakes of is magnude all that often. and are expecting that there be sigficant damage. there ha been two fairly strong aershocks of 5.9 and of 5.5, which is wt we would expect we would expt them to coinue in the near future. >> senivasan: we'll have more iormation on the on-line newshour as it becomes availabl a bombing inran today killed a nuclear physics professor

. he had been a suppter of the politil opposition. he was killed when a bomb rapped to a motorcycle blue outside his home. governmentfficials charged u.s. and israeli intelligenc agencies for beingehind it. a spokesman for the u.s. sta department callethe allegatis absurd. in in saudi arabia, theovernment reported killi hundreds of shii rebels from yemen on the saudi de of the border. the offensive began last noveer. d across the border, officia in yemen said gornment troops the killed at least 20 more rebels tay. one ofexico's top drug traffickers s been captured on the baja califora peninsula. teodoro "eteo" garcia simental-- in the red irt-- was arrested earlyoday. authorities said his gang ha terrized tijuana, even throwing rivs into vats of acid. another accud drug kingpin in mexico was kild last month by federal troops. a woman o helped hide anne frank from the nazisand then rescued r famous diary, has died. miep gies was an office

seetary in amsterdam. for two years, shend others visited the franfamily in their cret annex, bringing fo, books, and news. she recaed anne in later year >> wt struck me most as ann's friend was alwayher curiosity. she always asked me every morning when i came inhe hidi place about e things, wh happened outside. sreenivasan: anne frank and her mily were found and shped to death camps in 1944. only her father suived. after the rests, gies gathered up the girl's diary. it was published in 1947. miepies was 100 years old. jean finnegan biden, t vice president's mother, s remembered tod at a funeral mass in wilmington, laware. president oba, former president clinto and house speaker nancy losi were among those who tended.

vice presidentiden delivered a eulogy. >> when we triph, she was quick to remind that it was cause of others. "there's no one better thayou. every man isour equal, and every man desees respect." that was herreed. >> sreenivasan: jean biden passed away last fday at the age of 92. those are some othe day's main stories. ll be back at the end of the program with a preew of what you'll find night on the wshour's web site. but for now, bk to jim. lehrer: and still to come o the newshour, the carsf the future, and who will buyhem; an auto rker turned poet; and the tainted records of srts stars. >> brown: that follows our lk at budget woes in states aoss the country, as legislats return to work and fe even gger deficits and tough decisions in 2010. the center obudget and policy iorities, a non-partisan

grp, projects potential shortfalls of $350illion tionwide over the next two yes, with every state except montana and nortdakota facing fiscal trouble. we te our own snapshot now with theelp of pbs corresponden in new york, colorado, uisiana, oklahoma, idaho, and califora: julie >> reporter: snow isn'the only thing ping up here. sos the state deficit. the forecast? a current year bget gap of $500 million is excted to growo $9 billion by the end of the next scal year. the result of years of overspending and one-time fixes. mocratic governor david patterson, considerea lame duck by some polital obseers, is having trouble geing the state legislature to agree on significant spending cuts. that's despite the ft the legislature is contrled by his own party. things cld freeze up even

re since every state lawmaker is for re-election this year. robert dfy is mayor of the city of chester. >> cutting spending mean making very unpopur decisions. that meansobs being cut. it means some serviceseing cut. it means bureauccy being minimized and cut through. those things have toappen. they're not easy. it'sainful but it has to happen. i think politically i ink everhing everybody has to havehe strength to do that. >> reporter: in cember as tax collectioncontinued to decline, the ste started fallinbehind on payments to rochester as welas other munipalities, schools and nonprofit organizatis across new york anmayor duffy is expecting a lot less state moneyn 2010. last year at budt time, federal stimul money and a long list ofew state taxes and fees helped push the fisc crisis back. now the are fewer options . >> this is a winr of

reckoning. reporter: governor patterson is warning deem cu are the only way outf this storm. >> i'm tom bearden icolorado where thstate legislature goes back into sessi tomorrow facing a dget shortfall historic proportions. $600 million between n and the d of the fiscal year in june, a cumulative $5 biion by the end of the next fiscal yea already ste employees have been ford to take unpaid furl owe days,ome prisoners have bn released early and mental health ca services ha been curtailed. on top of all of that th state has one the toughest taxpayer bill of rigs laws in the country. it limits the grth of the state budget and howuch revenue the state government can keep. last week govern bill ritter announced he would not sk relection and said that would give him more freedoto de with future cuts. already on the table are potentiay draconian cuts for colorado's instituons of higher learnin public schools faccuts of about 6% and retirement

benefits for plic employees, like teachers, may be reced. ummeting tax revenues also have had huge impact on the nation's lgest ongoing mas ansit project, the fast track lit rail system. voters approved a sales x increase in 2004 to y for it. but costs ballooned an revenue fell farhort of projecons. voters will prably be asked to double that tax to fini constructi on schedule. >> rightow what we're say ing iso get the whole thing built out by 2017,ur original schedule, it's gog to take anher 4 tenths of a sales tax crease. if we doot get more revenues into the program, thent's going to b after 2035 that the whole fast track progr is rlized. >> repter: local pundits say king for a tax increase this fall in the midst of a recession could a very tough sell. i'm shauna sanford with the louisiana blic broadcasting. experts have called louisiana's budg crisis the rse they've seen is more

than t decades. the 2009 tax revenues re wn leaving the state with less money tspend in 2010. and a nearly $250 llion hole in theudget. this comes on the els of a $1.6 billion cutast year and projected shtfalls to the state general fund or the next two years totaling near $3 billion more as federal stulus dollars go away. deep cuts will have to be spre across many state agencies includi $84 million from higr education and $108 million from hlth care. republican governor bby jial said hard decisions will have to be madeithin the coming weeks and mons. e bottom line he says is at state government will simply have tighten its be. by law t governor must balance e state budget and can mandate 3% cuts to state agencies whout legislative approval. whe the governor and lawmakers figureut what they'll to handle the state'budget woes the

govern says there are two things he will not do to f the problem. use the state's rainy y fund or raise tes. >> i'm lori rasmussen in oklahoma city. in a state where energy rens supreme falling oil d gas pricesave led to a budget shortfall of me than 18%, the biggest budget gap in th nation. that h forced state agencies to furl owe employs and eliminate programs and rvices. among the sualties are deep cuts to a seniorutrition program,limination of education d reentry programs for prison iates, a gang prevention and interventio program that reduced drivey ootings by as much as 61% and a reduction services to victims ofomestic abuse. schools in oklaha are cutting s routes and trimings administrativand suppt staff. the cutso mental health services for low-income ults brought that agenchead to tes. >> allhe folks here know that i actuay do cry about these things because tse are real peopl that we're lking at. sometimes we ms that at the capital. i know y'a struggle with aateow of tough decisions

but what i want to telyou is if this committee doesn't stand up for this agency, nobody will. >> reporter: the legislature goes back into session the fit week of february, and the bunkt will be the number one it on the agenda. how lawmakers willesolve the budget shofall remains a myery. raising taxeis for all practil purposes off the table. in oklaha, all new taxes st be approved by a vote of the ople or by a super marity of the legislature and that'sn unlikely vote in an electioyear. >> in boise ido i'm thank tan. thlegislature is back in session and grpling with quesons over the proper role of state government. especially whethere's a $40 miion hole to fill just halfway througthis fiscal year and possibly another $83 milln in cuts to stay out of debtext year. >> so we're mpiling a report. >> on moay inside the newly renovated capital, govnor told idaho voters ey can expect no increa instead sweeping changeso state

governme. >> those chaes are meant to be permanent bas upon a philophy that government thatecognizes our responsility to individual idahans rather than to government itself. >>eporter: to save $10 million he is puing to close the idaho parks and reeation department in favoof a system funded by user feesnd maintained by her departments. the governor's recommeations include a four-year plan t eliminate l state funding for seven agenci and commissions cluding the department work for, idaho public television. and for the rst time public schools face nearly 9 llion in mid-year budget cuts. the ndful of democrats in this lislature oppose that proposal. >> that means terally closing schools one day a month. and that is a huge ccern that at timewhen we need our schools morehan ever. >> reporter: the governo contends edution already takes up more th half the budget there's nohoice. >> wherelse would you have me cut. >> reporter: the senate

president acknowlees this will be a ntentious year. >> wcan only spend the available revenues that we have to us. >> reporter: he's talkin about idahs constitutional mandate to balance t budget. it maye the key to a legislativsession everyone wants to keep as short as possible. >> i'm spencer mhels in san francisco. 's governor schwarzenegger's last year in office d from all accounts it n't be prty. california is cing a $20 llion budget deficit over the next 18 months that on top of last ye's even larger deficit. the governor came in to offi wing to sweep sacramento clean and toromote bipartisanship. but most observers agr that hasn't happened. the governor is asking for nearly $7 llion in federal funds. t there's no guarantee he will get it. he iasking california's congressional delegation t vo against health care reform because he says califoia can't afford it.

>> it is not reforto push more costsn the state that are already strugglinghile other states a getting sweethea deals. >> reporter:e wants a constitutional amendmenthat will guarantee sools will get moreoney than prisons. >> spending 45% more on isons than use s is no way to proed into the future. >> reporr: state employees alreadfurl oweed without pay three da a month may be in for more n-paid days off. all of this promises continuation othe partisan battlein the legislature whichas been unable to solve the budgetess. that because it takes a two- thirds vote the legislature to pass a dget. that allows the minority pty, in this case, the republics, the ability hold up the wheels of governme. the governor saythat the recession is mostly overbut the picture for calirnia remains bleak. brown: we have more about how local governments ar handling t fiscal crisis on

our website including an interview with susan uroof the pew centern the states. >> lehrer:ext, detroit throws a soring auto show. we begin with this story from spial correspondent diane eaabrook of the pbs program e "nightly business report." reporter: in detroit, size suenly matters. at the north arican auto ow g.m. rolled out the granite concept, the tiny sport utility is dramatic derture from the brand's typical mammoth truck. will feature a four cylinder engine and wille more fuel efficient than larger sports utilitieand crossovers. g.m. north arica president calls it the wave ofhe futu. >> you don'tave to go to a car that you find insidef a cerealox sizewise here to get the fuel economy andund to drive and theafety and all th stuff. we're doing th. >> reporter: or at toyota there's the

ncept of scale- down version of the prius. toyo isn't sure if it will build the car but if idoes the company sa it will be more fuel efcient and less expensive thanhe prius. the tiny hrid could capture less affluent yers. >> there are consumers telng us they would like a vehle a litt bit more compact, more in le with a corolla-sized vehicle vers prius which is similar to a camry siz vehie. >> reporter: this amaticdown sizing refles an industry d an economy struggling to recover fromne of the worst recessions in three decades. o u.s. auto companies, g.m. and chrysler, went bankrt lastear. and needed a bailout from washington. th brought government leaders like hou speaker nancy pelosi tthe show floor to see what the industry i ying to do to turn itself around. even though the u.s. lost it title lastear as the largest yer of vehicles to china, it still remains an important market for manufacture. so they're racg to build

more fuel-efcient products americans will want d can afford. ford has perhaps the best advantage with the focus. it's already been hit with consumers and gets aace-lift next year. the new focus ll have a new twliter engine that offers more hsepower than the currt model and should have better fuel economy. manufacturers don't estima fuelconomy on a vehicle until it's ready to come to market. ford admits oiding a government bailo has helped it attra customers away from g.m. and chrysler. but presidt of the america's mark fies thinks product has more to with the company success. >> at the end of the d customers are going to buyur pruct not because we didn't take goverent money, it's because when they look at ou products, the value, the design, the safety, e fuel economy, all those kind things, morend more customers are ming into our show room ansaying i choose rd. >> reporte this show is as much about what isn't here a wh it is here.

gone are iconic g.m. bnds like ptiac, saturn, saab and hummer. alvictims of the company's recentankruptcy. genel motors is now focused on its remaining brand. chrolet, gmc, buick and cadillac. he this the company will lure consumersack to deerships if it repays the government part of i money by mid yea >> this is a second chance. i'm personally grateful r this. i know all the employe of g.m. are reallgrateful for the opportunity. we will not dippoint. i'm a tax tier 2 bthe way. i wanto pay back the tax payer too. everybody this company wants to do that too. >> reporter: chrysr which also came out of bankruptc last year is at the showut doesn't havenything new to show. fiat now h a majority stake in the company and pla to roll out new chrysler prodts in a couple years based on its platform. one other noceable change

this year, a lack of gli. except f volkswagen's rollout, the show washort on flash and futuristicroducts. that disappointed mototrend 's detroit edit. >> it gaves a good idea of ere the auto companies were heed or what they were thinking about. they would get a reaion from people who came here durin the public days. i think a lot of t people will end up missing th. on the other hand given what general moats and chrysler went through this ye and gin what the entire auto industry has beethrough in the last year, ihould say, i think a little bitore of a do to earth attitude is what you would pect and what we're gettg this year sflrt analysts thi will be a revery year for the auto industry. ey estimate auto makers cod sell 11.5 million vehicles in the u. this year. that about a million more than last year. by then, they're optimistic the pie in the s concepts he likes will come ck.

>> bwn: gwen ifill picks up on the auto story nowith more on big changes for e big three. >> ifill: micheline maynaris senior biness correspondent for the "new york times," d has writtetwo books about the automotive industry, most recently, "the selli of the americanconomy." she joins us from ann arbor, michig. weome. >> is the boasting all over detroit now? >> well, it's denitely a more subdued atmosere, gwen. remember auto shows when therwere jeeps crashing rough plate glass windows and minians dropping from the ceiling and lots of dancers and pretty girlsnd prettyuys too. but this year it was df tonightly a lor-key atmohere, probably fitting. >> ifillthe volkswagen dancers di't do it for you, i'm think something. >> well. >>fill: has the culture changed fover in detroit now? everybody here is getting thr arms around the idea that they'llever be as big as they ce were. it's realleasy to see if you just look at the car sales figures.

as the report said, we sd about 10 million vehics in the uned states. last year. people think we'll selabout 11 mlion this year, 11.5 million. about ve years ago the industry sold 17 million vehicles. it's down 40%. you look at all the factors that have closed allhe people w have lost their jobs, the grants that have.. the brands that have gone ay and you can see thin are a lot smaller here. >> ifill: who are the bi three's biggest coetitors now? obviously china is coming big. >>f you look at it on a glal basis, you absolutely would say china. i think that's a huge surise to a lot of ople. i rememb maybe ten years ago or 20 years ago at volkswagen was actuay the biggest brand in chi. then the were joint ventures with other car compani. noyou're seeing the chinese market itself sort of breed its own car makers. some of them a here at the detrt show. went for a walk on the show

floor yesterda i walked past ford i walked right into a displa for a chinese coany called byd or build yr dreams. it was showing its electri car just kity corner from where ford woulde. a year ago they wod have been in the basement. >> ifill: electric cs and hybr cars, that's the future? >> well, actlly i own a toyota pri, so i would say yes they are t future. they were ceainly front and center at th show in probably a way we've nev seen before because all ofhe companies... iwasn't just the asians talking about hybrids or the germansalking about diel hybrids. it was every single car make in fact, thewo vehicles from ford that wothe north american car and tck of the year awardwere hybrids. honestly, i ver thought i uld e that happen. >> ifill: is ford thonly american company that dn't take a governmt, a big government aid? are ey feeling kind of smug? >> well, ford ha always made

quite a biof the fact that they didot take a government bailou they sort of absented themselves fm the whole situation pretty early o i think th realized when the ceos went congress and stted to get picked on for flying theirrivate planes that it was obably not a go idea to be in line for govement money. ford seems to be feeling very confident theseays. they've t a lot of new vehicles cing. i think their market share i coming bk a little bit. they actually haan improvement last yea i'sure they're hoping for more of an improvement in 10. >> ifill: you mentioned th ceos. both chrysler d g.m. have new ceos. has that affected their cus, their goals,hat they set out do? >> i think pple at g.m. and chrysler a a little bit shell shocked becae if you think about a ye ago, they had a cenamed bob nardelli who had actually come fromhe outside. he had come from home depo

at least they were ud to seeing him. he had beethere for a little bit over a year. w there's no american or even north americaas a ceo at chrysr. it's run by the fi, the head of fiat who is essential an unknown figu to people here in detroit at genal motors the ceo is ed whitaker. he was the former ceo at&t. the gornment asked him to be chairman when neral motors got their baout. essentially replaced the ceoate ageneral motors from last year, fritz hderson. even if you think back to la year show rick wagoner was stilthe ceo at general motors. >> ifill: bottom line after th year of government aid and credit yr of tough times no more happy lk in detroit. >> this is always a place th runs ooptimism. hos and dreams are always part of the d.n.a. in detrt. pele aren't walking around in haishirts or anything like that. it's a ser atmosphere. i do think thathat's

appropriate given that two companies went thrgh bankruptcy were still in deep recession. don't know when we'll be climbing out of it. >> ifill: micheline maynard the "new york times," thanks ain for joining us. >> thankou, gwen. >> bwn: and now a very different auto story, throug poetry >> we stand in t rain and a long line waitinat ford hiland park for work. you kn what work is. if you're d enough to read th, you know what work is. although y may not do it. >> brown: at 82 philip leve is author of se volumes of verse and onef the nation's most nored poets. with pulitzer and numerous other prizes. but he srted life in detroit working in auto plants. sometimes waiting in le for a job as he describes his poem, at work is. >> this is aut waiting. ifting from one foot to another. feeling the lighrain falling like mist intoour hair. blurring youvision. til you think you see your

own brother. ahead of you, maybe n places. >> brown: thesfeel familiar to you. levine recently joed me at the yancey richard segalery in new yk. he had written an essay r an exhibition of photogras by andrew moore that capture a lost world of troit. old school, homes, and factories including fo's ver rouge plant where levine himself once worked. >> when i was a young y working in these pces and didn't see way out as yet and i certainly di't think the way ouwould be poetry. >> brown: what were you doin >> usually five people would take an enmous piece of hot steel which four of us wld hold with tongs and put it to a huge press. what it was i didn't know.

>> brown: really? >> no. i didn't know. i remember a young g from west virginia, a young kid he said to me,hat are we making? at's what he said to me. whatre we making? i said i'm makin$2.15 an hour. i have no idea whayou're making. he said, no, what are we making out of th here metal? i sa to him, i don't know. i neveask. and i called the foran out. his name wasonnie. i have a song memory about this. lonnie, what arere we making with this hereetal? he said somethinlike, "stop screwing off and get back to work." brown: don't ask questions. >> i wonded if he knew. >> brown: what w poetry then? i mean, where did the pory come from? >> no one knows wherpoetry comes from i had be writing poetry from the age of 14. it was just somethg i loved doing. i loved language. i recogniz that i had a facity for it. my teachers praiseme to the

skies which was wonderful. >> brown: levine gduated from wne state university d left the auto plants hind. heaught at fresno state in california for many year , and he and his wife frannow divide the time between fresno and new york. yove kept writing about detroit to this day. you' kept writing about work. did that become a ki of mission almost if that'she right word? >> o thing i was struck by very young in my mide 20s, ve young. was that i dn't see any work , written work, abouthis experience as far as pory, zero. so i actualldid at one time say to myself, hey, the's a whole world he untouched. >> brown: this should be a subject for poet. >> it should be there,eah. it should be tre. myttitude toward the work chand enormously over the

years. at the time i hated it. in my late 30s and early0s, i realized that this wld i thought would stop mfrom writing a dent body of poetry had in fact becom central to my writing poetry. began to feel that i was really in some ways ry fortunate escially meeting the pele that i met. >> brown: a lot of youpoems tell stories about peopl from the past and work. there's one even in e cuent collection, an extraordinary morning. would yoread the beginning of that. >> sure. an extraordinary morning. two young men yojust might call them boys waiting forhe woodwardtreetcar to get them downtown. yes, they' tired. theye also dirty and happy. happy beuse they've finished a short workweek. if they' not rich, they're as close to rich as they'l

er be in these times. >>rown: over the decades, philip levine has writn about many subjects and plas, engad with politics and events around him,e writes as he titled his mosrecent book, the news of the world. >> we starteout talking about your life in t faories. many years ler, you've made a lifes a poet. does that surpriseou? >> oh, god, yes. i mean, i'm stund. one of the things thatade it happen was pure luck. my 26th birthday, i met my present wife. homany women could stay with a guy whhas no prospects and wants to write poetry d stay with him now 55 year sometimes she woed so that i could get home and scribe. she hono what i'm doing. i think that is the st crucial thin to be honored.

as a poet. even... not by a nation because a nation is going ve distractions but just to be honored by this person at person or especially by your wife or your brother or your mother , father. i mean it's ju fantastic. i keeps you going in a w that notng else could keep you going. >> brownphilip levine, nice to talk to you. >> tnk you. >> lehre and finally tonight, the confession of a homeun king, and the eroid era in spts. newshour corresponde kwame holmanegins with this update. down the left field line. it enough? scores >> reporter: afterore than a decade of denials, mark maguire has me clean about using steroids when he bke the single sson home run cord. >> i apologize to evybody in major league basall.

my family. bud selig. reporter: maguire hit 70 home runs in 1998 with t st. louis cardinal eclipsing the record of 61 set by roger mariin 1961. on monday heold bob costas on the major league seball network at he used the drugs solely to maintainis health. >>ou have hit 70 home runs. could you havead a home run ratio greater th anything babe rh did in his time without ing steroids? >> absolutely. i suitely beeve so. i was given thisift by the man upstairs >> reporter: the rumors of steroid use that swirled around maguire ding his playing ys followed him into retirement including at a congssional hearing in 2005. >> i'm not here to discu the past. i'm here to positive.

>> reporter: b last fall maire was named hitting ach for the cardinals. said he knew he finally had to answer the question. but all-me home run leader barry bonds, who hit 73 mers in 21, has denied he knowingly took enhancing drs. he faces federal perjury charges over thessue. retired slugger say sosa, o is sixth on the career home run list, also nies using steroids. and sooes retired pitcher roger clemens who n the cy ung award seven times. in other spos, seven-time tour de fran winner lance armstrong repeatedly has denied dopg. but several other leading cyclists he been banned from the sport. and rmer u.s. track star marion joneserved six months in prison 2008 for lying to investigators abt her steroid use. >> brown: david epstn has been covering many of these steros storiefor sports illustrated.

's a staff writer there and helpedreak the alex rodriguez story lastear. david epstein, welcome. so it's pretty mh already well known a believed that mark magui used steroids to... when he was hitting hi home runs, right? >> that's righ i ink when you go in front of congress and u tell them when they ask you if y used performancenhancing drugs you say you're n there to talk abouthe past it's pretty much the end of that story. it been a foregone concsion for a whi. >> lehre why did he finally come clean today oyesterday? >> well, goi in, you know, he'll beoing into the season as theardinals' hitting coach. if he hadn't, this just woul have been protracted game of media speculation an criticism. i thk he kind of opted to have this story burn britly and briefly ther than just dr out and distract him from what was going on in theield and with theeam he'll be working for. >> lehrer: whado you make of maguire's claim toob costas at there's no connection between his steroiuse and the fact tt he hit all these home runs?

>> i mean it doesn't make an sense basically. i've talked to experts o steroid use and use very freqntly. i know maguire said that h used it only for rovery not for performance enhancemt. frany even if he just wanted to use it because he think needles arfun it doesn't matter why he wanted to us it. the fact is steroids eance yo performance in baseball and in hitting the bl farther in many many differe ways. there are acally preliminary studys that show eveyears after habitu steroid users stop using steroids their muscle enhanment remain even after they've stped using. >> lrer: is mark maguire going to pay any price or penalty for having admitted d this? >> it don't look like it. i ink he'll be greeted in st. louis with open arms. it would be a precedt if baseball werto strip him of any of his records bause there are other ug he ...

uggers who have tested pos posive or admitted to drug use and this hav't been stripped of records. you get intohe dirty business ohow to parse out stice basically. it doesn't lk that way at thmoment. >> lehrer: frothe legal standpoint as 've said in the set-up piece marn jones we to jail for lying and barry bonds faces th similar charge but it wasn't. it's not for the drug use. it's for having li to investigators or to a grand jury or something like that. is that correct? >> that's absolutely rrect. mark magui in front of coress didn't lie. he just refused to tk about the issue. marion jones ner tested positi. it was just the vestigation at got her. you're absolutely corrt. >>ehrer: what about the comparison betweenark maguire and the alex rriguez case. thiss of course the story of thstar of the new york yankees. you covered that story and helped break that stor since th there's been manny ramirez of the dgers. both of them will stl be

playing baseball come ring, right? >> that's right. ey have chances i mean as you' seen with alex rodriguez this yr, he has a ance to keep hitting homers and peop love you when you do that. the same thing wh manny ramirez. he maye a little less so but he still known as a happy-go-lucky g. you get back to the eld and you perform well. you know, manny was takingp a probmatic drug for sports because it undetectable. th're active. they can rehab rabilitate their images in a way that mark maguire can't do anore. >> lehrer: based on yo reporting d your colleagues at "sports iustrated"'s reportin what is the state of drug use in major srts right now? is there any w to measure that there really isn't. what i actually found while was reportg that alex rodriguestory is that even the players themlves really don'know. i knowe have an image of metimes a clubhouse and some of this has been perpeated

by jose canseco's book. >> lehrer: he was a ba player who first raisethis publicly or confesd and those hearings that wead the clip of where maguire went w the result of his going puic, correct? i just wanted to maksure at was in the record. >> yeah, yeah. so some of his books kinof perpetuated this image of barrel where you could gb a syringe in t clubhouse. everything that i've fou sugges that steroid use is still pretty relatively secretive behaor when it comes to professnal clubhouses and locr rooms. even the players themselves really havno idea who is usg. yowill find uniformly that the players who did e estimate that all thguys around them arusing and the guys who don't u tend to estimate that a very f guys are using. really they don'know. >> lehrer: tre's no testing regime in either of the majosports that can turn it up? >> there are testing regimes i cently spoke with the national ftball league with

two retired rength coaches who worked a long time ithe league for teams. they said human growth hor has beme the drug of choice. that's their opinion. you can't test for tt without blood testing at football, basketball a basell are not doing blood testing. even the blood testinghat a person athe olympics for growth horne is limited effectivenesat the moment. marion jones ner tested potive because of the designer steroid. the are a lot of ways to get the tests. the drugs that mannyamirez took. he didn'fail a test. mar league baseball to their credit caught him inn investigation. there are a lot ofhings you can do and not test positi. >> lehrer: and stillo it as we speak. >>ou can still do it. the drugthat manny ramirez was king is a female fertility thatn men raises your own level of your tt test. th don't check for that. the's a lot of things that you can do with urine teing. the testing in the difrent leagues isery different.

there'been criticism of the out ofompetition testing in me of the leagues. your testing has to be incredibly rigorous. there'loopholes at the moment because of th technology. >> lehre david epstein, ank you very much. >> thank you. >> brown: a major eahquake shook the cabbean nation of iti just west of port-au-prince. wire rorts told of dozens killed oinjured. cnn reportedhe presidential palace collapsed but the president and his wifescaped injury. the ama administration work on a possible plan to levy new fees on maj financial initutions. e newshour is always online. hari senivasan, in our newsroom, previews what's the. hari. and an interview with susan d an interview with susan ur of the p center on the states about how local governmes are

handling t fiscal crisis. dy woodruff blogs about a ne study onow black americans measure prress one year into barack obama's presidey. on art beat, you can seeore of jeff's cversation with poet philip leve. ana slideshow of photographs from the exhibit capring the lost wor of detroit. all at and more is on our web site, newshour.pbsrg. >> brown: anthat's the newshour for tonight. i'm ffrey brown. >> lehre and i'm jim lehrer. we'll see you on-line, andgain here tomorroevening. thank you, andood night. major funding for the pbs newshours provided by: >> whathe world needs now is energy. the energy to get the econy humming agai the energy to tacklehallenges like cmate change. what is that energy me from an ener company? everyd, chevron invests $62 million in people, in ids-- seeking, teaing, building. fuing growth around the world to move us all ahe. this is the por of human energy chevron.

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